Endurance - Alfred Lansing

"once you’ve been to hell and back,
that’s enough
it’s the greatest satisfaction known to man." - Charles Bukowski 

I picked up this book after seeing it on the 'favorite books' list of some ultra runners that I follow on Instagram. In 1914, Sir Ernest Shakleton boarded the Endurance and sets sail to Antartica.Their plan was to cross the entire continent on foot.After crossing around thousand miles , navigating through ice with just 200miles short of land the ship gets locked in an island of ice. For the next 10 months, the ship drifts North through the ice packs and finally sinks.Cast away ,litereally in the middle of nowhere, Ernesh Shackleton and his crew of twenty seven men  take on a journey of 850miles through the treacherous waters of Southern Atlantic. 

For the final stretch , Shakleton and some of his key men taken an open boat from Elephant Island to South Georgia  through Drake passage. The remainder of the team stays back at Elephant Island with nothing but hope that somehow  the team will find some help for 5 months!!

 In the end, after 522 days, the entire crew manage to get back on land and whats more, the entire crew gets back home safely. No one is lost !! 

The story comes alive with the excellent narration by the author.Its pages upon pages of hardships.

Yet, there was something admirable about the way the men were able to get past it every day. 

 

Some things that fascinated me: 

* The trust that the crew had on the captian with all decisions taken.He was a true leader who knew how to command his team and take them out of trouble.

* The navigation skills of the crew. Especialy the captain who manages a flawless sail(off only by 16miles from planned landing site) on the 

toughest stretch of seas known to man, with nothing but a sextant! .

* Almost every crew member maintained a log of their daily happenings and it was one of the most prized posssesions that they retained 

 with them till the end.

* The fact that no member of the crew lost hope or got depressed and ended his life was another surprise and a big learning to me. 

 It gave me a perspective on humans and their uncrushable will and survive. 

 I am sure that some incidents from this book will come to my mind whenever I am in a tough situation.

 

Verdict:  ⭐⭐⭐ I would go with a 3 stars not for the quality of the book but my reading experience. 

It was a difficult read for me as the geography that is covered is not familar to us. Also there were  many terms related to sailing and  seas which was new and over my head. 

However, if you love reading survival/adventure stories (like Into Thin Air), it would be a good one time read.